Low Alititude Inverted Fun (LAIF?)

Currently Listening To:
Rancid:
Life Wont Wait
Corazon De Oro

Recently, I acquired a copy of Ubisoft's newest game in the Tom Clancy line, HAWX. I completed a challenge laid out by the Frag Dolls. The Frag Doll Valkyrie posted a video blog of her completing the Demo Mission of HAWX, upside down posted these rules for a small contest:

*Film yourself completing the demo or any level of H.A.W.X upside down.
*Submit your video link in the comment section of this [FD forum] blog.
*The first three submissions will win.

Here is the video which sparked the contest.



Here are 2 videos, one from Myself and the other from a friend and contest winner, SeductivPancakes (he filmed his challenge at my place).





In the end, we both won copies of the game. Props to Ubisoft and the Frag Dolls for putting the contest on and sending the games so quickly!

As Always,
ERRRskate151

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How to Sell Soul to Souless People

Currently Listening to:
QuietDrive
Rise From The Ashes


Currently Playing



Ahoy one and all. it has been quite sometime since I last posted. I figure now is the time to get back on the blog pony!

*Updates*

I was recently crazy sick and I'm now drinking a shit load of water to stay hydrated (couldn't keep anything down for a day). Water is the giver of life. Drink up, children.



The only thing I could tolerate doing besides lying in bed all day was a bit of gaming. I got in a NICE amount of Street Fighter IV. The hype machine on this game was about as long as 7 city trains, as proven by the crowded Gamestops all across NYC (and probably the rest of the country as well). After waiting quite sometime to acquire a copy, I popped it into my xbox and experienced firsthand just how awesome it is.

The cast of characters is fairly large and full of variety, including characters from all over the Street Fighter mythos and adding new characters to keep the game fresh.





The first thing players will notice are the upgraded, stylish "2D.5" visuals that have been pumped into the series. The game is very much Street Fighter to the core, but done with some extra style and flare. Past that, there have been some tweaks in game and balancing. Also included are focus attacks from Street Fighter 3, which, when connected, open your opponent for a free hit. The game features two meters, Ultra and Super combo meters. Supers are pretty standard in Street Fighter and now also control your fighter's EX attacks. The ultra meter, however is a new meter which fills as you take damage. Once filled, you can turn the tables on your opponent by unleashing a powerful and cinematic attack. I for one am not a fan of it because it is basically rewarding a player for being stomped on.



In an attempt to add more style, Capcom has released alternate costumes via Downloadable content. The costumes look pretty cool for the most part, but are unreasonably priced. Each costume pack contains the alt costumes for 4-6 characters at 320 microsoft points a piece. That is a bit much to ask for nothing more than costumes and hardly seems worth it unless you absolutely *have* to have your favorite character's other outfit.

Street Fighter IV is Street Fighter through and through. While more advanced player have their complaints and grievances, its fresh and pretty enough for many gamers to pick up and wanna have a few rounds with friends or the rest of the world. Remember, you're INDESTRUCTIBLE *cue crazy opening theme*

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Merry Belated Christmas

Currently Listening to:
Social Distortion :
Greatest Hits
I Was Wrong




Hope everybody had a Merry Christmas yesterday!! I wanted to update just to show that I was alive and that I still like to write here. I have been busy the past month and haven't been up on my writing game. For christmas, I came into possession of a few games, including the New Prince of Persia, Fallout 3 and Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise. I will be writing about these fairly soon and hopefully, even do a full review of Skate City Heroes. SCH is a Wii game which I have seen no reviews on. But of course, the review depends on if I actually get the game. So we will see how that turns out. In the mean time, celebrate with some post-Christmas cheer, Foamy style!

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Down right fierce

Currently Listening to:
The Clash
London Calling:
Koka Kola

Street Fighter 2, for most gamers, was the game which sparked an interest in the fighting game genre. Many version of Street fighter 2 alone were released, being distinguished by various suffixes and pre-fixes. In a few days, the revival of these great games will take place with the release of Super Street Fighter II Turbo: HD Remix. Anyone interested in the game probably already knows a lot of about, so I will keep my description brief. The game features updated animations, drawn by UDON artists. UDON is the studio which currently owns the rights to Street Fighter comics and graphic novels. While they handeled the animations, the developers were said to have interacted with memebers of the street fighter tournament scene to give players what they want and to make sure they could put out the best game possible. The game looks absolutely amazing. In early shots, they showed examples of the visual upgrades by comparing the original games sprites to the newly animated figures. Here is the example for Ken:











As far as I know, the game features all the fighters from Super Street Fighter II Turbo, which I believe includes but isn't limited to:
Cammy
Akuma
DeeJay
T.Hawk
Fei-long


I can't emphasize how beautiful the game looks. It is presented in 16:9 widescreen































Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix comes out Tuesday, November 25 for the Playstation Network and November 26 for the Xbox Live Arcade.

Which, to me, is really cool. I remember when I was about 8 years old, it was the day before thanksgiving. I went to go see the inflation of the balloons for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. When I got home, I was playing Street Fighter II Turbo for most of the night. Come back to about 11 years later, I get to re-live a part of my youth by repeating it all again. I will be going to the inflation of the balloons for this years parade and I will be jamming to Street Fighter later on. Hope everyone has as much fun playin this as I will. Also, if you stumble upon this and happen to pick this game up for XBLA, add me at ERRRskate151!

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Meh Makes it into the Dictionary

Currently Listening To:
Damone
Tonight


Written by Jill Lawless of the Associated Press
Provided by AOL news

At least someone is excited about "meh."

The expression of indifference or boredom has gained a place in the Collins English Dictionary after generating a surprising amount of enthusiasm among lexicographers.

Publisher HarperCollins announced Monday the word had been chosen from terms suggested by the public for inclusion in the dictionary's 30th anniversary edition, to be published next year.
The origins of "meh" are murky, but the term grew in popularity after being used in a 2001 episode of "The Simpsons" in which Homer suggests a day trip to his children Bart and Lisa.
"They both just reply 'meh' and keep watching TV," said Cormac McKeown, head of content at Collins Dictionaries.
The dictionary defines "meh" as an expression of indifference or boredom, or an adjective meaning mediocre or boring. Examples given by the dictionary include "the Canadian election was so meh."

"Meh" was selected by Collins after it asked people to submit words they use in conversation that are not in the dictionary. Other suggestions included jargonaut, a fan of jargon; frenemy, an enemy disguised as a friend; and huggles, a hybrid of hugs and snuggles.



* This is all me, now*
So what do you guys think? Personally, I think it's pretty cool. It's one of those
words that I have heard being used a lot more in the past few years, and I certainly remember that scene in the Simpsons fairly well. The inclusion into the lexicon/ dictionary says a lot. At least it beats 2007's inclusion of "woot". What do you guys think?

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It's all about Thrasher today

Currently Listening to:
Anarchy Club
Blood Doll




Thrasher: Skate and Destroy was released in 1999 and it represents a very real milestone in my life. It is one of the influences in my life that led me to go out and pick up a skateboard. I first played it as a demo on one of the Official Playstation Magazine monthly demo discs. It was the first skating game I really played. I hadn't yet experienced the beginning of the juggernaut that is the Tony Hawk series. Thrasher came out near the time the first Tony Hawk game was released, but was mostly overlooked by the public. I figure this is probably because Tony Hawk's gameplay is more forgiving style of gameplay. Another reason Thrasher might not have caught on is its lack of professional skaters. Players want to be able to attach a name to a product and Tony Hawk delivered in that department. Thrasher was definitely more authentic and felt as real as a skateboard game could get at the time. Skateboarding games have become so dependent on the perceptions provided by the Tony Hawk series that the game itself has become a method of judging other skateboard titles. (even to the point that I can't help but do it myself Thrasher featured gameplay so different from Tony Hawk it could be considered a Skateboard sim. Instead of auto push, which is the default form of control of Tony Hawk, you are pushing wood whenever you want speed and momentum in Thrasher. Also, instead of ollieing to perform fliptricks, the tricks are mapped to a different button, This keeps ollies and nollies (modified by use of the L1 button) just ollies, and not kickflip to shove it to late 360 flips.



The game features six characters with their own individual styles. Each character were comfortable with different terrains, just like real skaters. Naturally, in real life, everyone has a different style of skating and this game emulates this well. No two skaters play the same in the game as opposed to Tony Hawk, where you're playing a carbon copy with your pro or custom character of choice. In true Rockstar fashion, this games got grit. The Levels are dark, but lush and full. The characters are all badass and have style for miles. The Locations in the game all simulate real live skate spots all over the world, such at the Brooklyn Banks, the Embarcadero, and the L.A. river and a few international spots. The approach to levels was nice as well, you were able to free skate the level until you were ready to start a 2 minute run. Basic skateboard game run rules apply: As many tricks as possible in 2 minutes. Your skater also had a damage meter, which filled from falls, bails and crashes. If the meter filled, you broke your board. At the end of the runs duration, your skater had to make sure to high tail it before getting busted by muggers, police dogs or the cops themselves. The Camera would switch from behind the skater to an first person view of these antagonists with a taser or a wooden plank while you run out of their reach or to an exit.





Though the game didn't have the best graphics, it included impressive ragdoll physics for its time.



The game also featured one of the best line ups of Old school rap ever.(coming from someone who doesn't like rap). The sounds of the Sugar Hill Gang, Run DMC, EPMD, Public Enemy, Eric B and Rakim and more set an independent tone to the game as well. Skating is often seen as punk rock centric. Many people from different walks of life often choose to skateboard and this game(if not even intentionally) sets that tone in a respectful manner. Overall, Thrasher was a fantastic game and was seriously overlooked for what it was: a genuinely fun and badass game.

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A look at going beyond the game

Currently Listening to:

The Living End

All Torn Down

Currently Playing:

PC gamers have always had the luxury of being able to screenshot an image from the game whenever they please.  One push of a button and boom, you have yourself a nice spur of the moment picture.  Only in the past year or two has the same applied to console gaming. Several titles have implemented a screenshot function into their game, so players can take cool shots and access them later on the internet.  Off the top of my head the games that do this are:

Skate

Gears of War 2

Halo

Project Gotham Racing 4

Forza

Little Big Planet? (I don't own a PS3, but it is what I am told)

My friend Suni and I  are the blues guys tearin' it up in this shot.

Crockett and Tubbs 2552 ftw.

A shot which I'm pretty sure everyone has taken so far.

I'm waiting for a nice headshot pic.

Skate takes it to the next level with the skate.reel. Users can upload pictures and even videos and access them via the skate webpage. There is so much to explore in the game and thousands of opportunities at cool shots. You know what they say : Without footage, it's fiction!

Rock Band 2  takes the concept in a different direction by using your in-game character to make cool pictures of  your character and band. You can also make posters, t-shirts, stickers

and other merchandise to using the pictures and poses the website has provided.  It is very innovative and a cool way  for players to become involved in the game more. 

That's all I got for now.  hope you enjoy it

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